Birth of Fire cover

Birth of Fire

by Jerry Pournelle

The choice was simple: Earth and prison -- or Mars and slavery For Garrett Pittson, wrongly convicted of murder, the choice was no choice. The struggling Mars settlement needed miners. At least there he wouldn't be behind bars. As it turned out, he might as well have been: the mining corporations were running a veritable penal colony. Appalling conditions prevailed. No work meant no food. As an extreme punishment, even oxygen was withheld. For Pittson -- and a determined group of his fellows -- the slavery was intolerable. The only answer: revolution...

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?